Have You Given These Sites Some Love Lately?

• C'mon, dear readers, it's time to Get Your Love On over to Poets Who Blog, an active community blog run by Sara for poets to get to know each others work, participate in group poems such as the Patchwork poem (check out Patchwork Poetry for some great examples of this form) and poems-by-prompt. Plus you can learn other forms of poetry like the "cento" which is a poem comprised of lines from other poets works; write poems based on words or lines donated by group members that must be incorporated into your poem; try your hand at a villanelle or ghazal or sestina.

• Next, please go visit Billy the Blogging Poet for a look at his blogging prowess; his powerful poems; his penchant for bringing important issues to the forefront. Billy Jones is a true friend to all poets - he likes to showcase poets he finds of interest and provides a community blog for poets to share their poetry with the public. Why not join up with the Blogsboro Poetry Club where you'll find a potpourri of talented poets!

• Next stop, the World Class Poetry Blog, where you'll find just about everything you need to know about poetry, poets, and the makings thereof; Allen definitely knows his stuff and also likes to mix it up and have fun while informing his readers!
  
  
• Allen has written about the 11 Mistakes Poets Make When Seeking Book Reviews, The Importance of Explosive Imagination in Poetry, Using I As A Persona, Modern, Postmodern, & Post-Postmodern: Why Poetry is No Longer in Disintegration Mode, Mixing Poetry With Art is Good Exposure For All, 10 Poetry Articles You Must Read, and Millennial Poetics: A New Way Of Thinking About Craft (one of a series on his Millennial Poetics, a must read!)
  
  
  
• Can't give enough link luv to Glenn Buttkus, co-contributor of Feel Free to Read blog; a perfect blend of poetry, celebrity & singer quotes and bios, American history & photographs, album covers and song lyrics to keep you enrapt for hours. If you're a Sherman Alexie fan, as I am, well, you'll find a wealth of Alexie poetry & remembrance at Glenn's Feel Free to Read 7th Heaven haven, as well as other American Indian poets such as Standing Bear Chief of the Oglala Sioux, Simon Ortiz, and Harlan Atwater Mythical Spokane Indian Poet *wink,wink*
  

Ok, this ought to Get Your Poetry On! - until next time!

Noah the Great !

You thought wrong

It's okay to think
happiness won't come to you,
because I want you to know
it was me that brought it,
I want you to remember
I heard what you said,
I was listening to every word,
but, you think you're alone,
I'm here with you,
when you look forward,
I look toward you,
but as you turn your head,
I look away,
though, my eyes don't pull you
out of view,
I may look bored,
but I'd rather be here
than anywhere,
I may pick on you,
but it's only because I care,
nobody else is worth my attention.

I chose this poem to share with you because I'm touched by it's sentiment . It reminds me of my younger self watching someone who was watching someone else. Poet, Noah the Great, may have a different idea behind this poem, but for me it speaks of unrequited love. You know it reminds you of that, too, dontcha? The first 4 lines tell you all you need to know about how it feels to have someone you're mightily attracted to tell you they'll never be happy, when in fact, there's much laughter and warmth between the two of you when you're together. I know this has happened to you, too. Sometimes your love is hiding in plain sight. You don't notice because you think someone else is bringing the Happiness pill to you.

If you enjoyed this poem, you have the opportunity to visit Noah's awesome blog. He's also running a start-up community blog you can check out. Noah is a student who writes constantly and gets good grades. He's a thoughtful, engaging young man who enjoys his solitude, would rather write and create engaging poetry than party-hardy. Noah is also a member of the Blogsboro Poetry Club. Oh! And he plays guitar! (I love guitar!) So get yourself over to Noah the Great's awesome blog and leave him a comment about his poem. In other words - go Get Your Poetry On!

Wouldn't you like to know what's behind Noah the Great's most excellent poem? Why not ask him?

Poetic Bytes

• If I handed you a 300-page epic poem about werewolves in modern-day Los Angeles, would you want to read it? William Weir of The Hartford Courant writes about Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow , a novel in free verse. Dare ya!
• Oh, oh. When is a poem a "poem?" The Queen's English Society in reference to contemporary poets has espoused that "too often strings of words are being labeled as poems despite the fact they have no rhyme or metre." (sniff, sniff) The QES believes The Sun Rising by John Donne is a poem, but not so for contemporary poet Michael Schmidt's poem entitled Pangur Ban, excerpt below. What say you?

Jerome has his enormous dozy lion.
Myself, I have a cat, my Pangur Ban.
What did Jerome feed up his lion with?
Always he's fat and fleecy, always sleeping
As if after a meal.
Perhaps a Christian?
Perhaps a lamb, or a fish, or a loaf of bread.
His lion's always smiling, chin on paw,
What looks like purring rippling his face
And there on Jerome's escritoire by the quill and ink pot
The long black thorn he drew from the lion's paw.

• From Richard K. Weems' drive-by poetry to Dave Johnson's charity poetry-on-the-spot, and the original Douglas Goetsch's poetry stand, we have the newest spin-off poetry-on-demand presented by Bainbridge Island West Sound Academy high school's celebration of National Poetry Month.
• The People's Poetry Gathering stretches a clothesline of poems from around the world across the streets of Lower Manhattan.
• WordFest 2008, a poetry showcase created by pioneers of Asheville's poetry movement, in Asheville, NC, starts Thursday - April 27 all over town. Featuring Pulitzer Prive-winning poet Galway Kinnell, four-time National Poetry Slam champion Patricia Smith, renowned translator of Sufi Poet Rumi, Coleman Barks, NC Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer, Jewish Arts Institute's Richard Chess, Cherokee poet MariJo Moore. Read WordFest highlights here.
• Dont Miss Out on This! LibraryThing, Favorite Poem Project, World Class Poetry, Poets Who Blog, or Blogsboro Poetry Club.
  
• New Hampshire poet Martha Carlson-Bradley reminds us to not overlook the wonders of nature - she uses them to tell us about ourselves - in her poetry book, Season We Can't Resist. Read article by Rebecca Rule of the Concord Monitor here.

Poetry On-line Community You Must Join - NOW

So, you've been writing poetry for a while. Your friends and family - even your dog - loves the written word. Yours, especially. Your poetry blog is deev and readership is growing like wild fire. Something tells you it's time to meet other poets on-line but you don't know where to start looking. Hey! That's what I'm here for [takes a bow]. Right off the top of my pin head I think of Poets Who Blog community and Blogsboro Poetry Club. How easy was that! Now get your awesome self over there and have some fun!